Property Biz Canada

To effectively prioritize performance improvement initiatives, it is critical for companies to base decisions on fact. In 2014, Triovest identified an opportunity to improve understanding of property- and portfolio-level environmental and sustainability performance.

Triovest partnered with Refined Risk to develop and implement the system’s environmental and sustainability modules, which provide the Triovest team with valuable real-time dashboards and key reports to make informed and consistent business decisions.

Refined Risk’s unique questionnaire builder also allows users to produce an unlimited and highly flexible range of questionnaires. This functionality enables creative thinking, and improves Triovest’s ability to adapt to new standards and priorities.

Linking systems and people to improve performance

While the software delivers new levels of performance management and accountability, the long-term goal is to engage building management, operation teams, and tenants to implement sustainable practices and achieve continuous improvement.

Opportunities abound: commercial buildings generate approximately 13% of Canada’s GHG emissions and consume 14% of end-use energy. The commercial building sector can make a substantial contribution towards long-term GHG emission-reduction targets. Furthermore, personal health and well-being are directly linked to the quality of the spaces we occupy.

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Mitigating impacts inherent to owning and managing real estate assets (e.g., indoor air quality, soil and groundwater contamination, etc.) and adapting to climate change, are critical environmental and community goals.

“We worked with Refined Risk to ensure that the system was attractive and user friendly. Our focus was to ensure that we had a system that provides real-time user feedback so improvement or compliance measures could be implemented immediately at the building level” says Kyle Nicholls, Triovest’s Director of Environmental Health and Safety.

“Our practical, data-driven approach will ensure that our continuous improvement efforts are realized and that our successes can be measured.”

“If we are to achieve energy performance improvements, or, by extension, sustainability at the broadest scale, we can’t ignore people,” says Philippe Bernier, Triovest’s Director of Sustainability. “People need to see a clear vision and purpose, understand how their role and actions influence the organization, and be able to use data-driven systems that reinforce desired behaviour. We are beginning to achieve this through Refined Risk and are excited for the path ahead.”

The Refined Risk system is a key tool to help our team deliver on priority ESG issues, transparently report on progress, and create value for stakeholders.”

Reflecting on a successful collaboration

What began as an idea is now a fully functional system that can be used by any real estate asset and property manager to identify and mitigate environmental and sustainability risk and drive positive change.

Nicholls says, “Our collaboration with Refined Risk has been extremely positive: a client-developer success story. The final result is that Triovest now has a ‘world-class’ system that will help our team to make solid real estate management and investment decisions.”

‘Business-as-usual’ is not a viable long-term option to address the complex, interrelated challenges that we face today.To achieve enduring success and standing as a leader, it is critical for organizations to integrate environmental, social and governance considerations into strategy and operations alongside traditional financial measures.
I am dedicated to helping peers, colleagues and clients stretch the typical boundaries of business thinking, and to discovering and implementing 'better' solutions that keep life-cycles in mind. I love to devise and implement strategies that reduce cost and risk, improve profitability and strengthen brand and reputation. I enjoy using numbers to tell the story and drive continuous improvement.